My First Interactive Christmas Card

I've always had a problem with K-I-S-S...keeping it simple is sooo not me, but I am trying. Less is more!

I recently purchased a book called "Interactive Cards" and I just love it! After a lot of humming and hawing, I finally made my first interactive Christmas Card.

This card was handmade without the use of my Silhouette or Big Shot. I was trying to keep things simple while making it seem not simple. So with a little cutting, stamping, embossing and gluing...voila!

This is one of my first attempts at wet embossing since buying all the embossing tools...not bad! I was quite proud of myself that the silver embossing powder showed up really well. Furthermore, I was quite surprised with what I thought was my white embossing powder was actually my pearl clear embossing powder. Still looks great!

When you pull the ribbon at the top of the card, the card pops up...

...to reveal the message.

It's sooo simple to make. I just love it and will probably make quite a few of these cards this season...time permitting!

Supplies used:
3 sheets of 6" x 6" paper
Ribbon
VersaMark Watermark Stamp Ink Pad
Christmas Stamps
Embossing Heat Gun
Papercutter
Glue

My First Christmas Card for 2011

I have been preparing for weeks now...pieces and ideas for Christmas Cards...but never took the leap to make an actual card itself...till tonight!

I was playing with Evan'd dog Feneris, aka Fennie, aka Roo. During which I got him to wear Coffee's baseball cap. He was sooooo cute with his ears perked up through the cap (didn't get a picture of it though) and it got me thinking of a card design.

Using my Silhouette, I designed the following:
- a layered silhouette of Fennie
- an XMAS window out of a card layout
- a Santa hat

Here's a quick view on how I put Fennie's silhouette together on my Silhouette.

Vector Drawing of Fennie...there are multiple layers to give it some texture when cut.

Coloured Vector Drawing for ease of viewing

The various layers and pieces to cut

The results were better than I expected...I was preening...hehehe

You can see up close his black eyes on his black brow with his whiskers.
I'll finish the card off with a few finishing touches, along with an envelope then it'll be ready to give to Evan, Flora and Fennie for Christmas :)

Stay tune for the next cards I have planned...

My Craftroom v1.0

Every crafter loves to have THE craftroom. I have always dreamed to have THE craftroom since I started getting involved in crafting. Richard, my fiance, finally got me started on MY craftroom! He pulled out all my bookshelves filled with books...my other love...reading. He put in a large gorgeous white table...purchased CHEAP CHEAP from craigslist. He got me cube units from Michaels which he then mounted on the wall over the table. He even installed little pot lights for added lighting to work with. And recently, he got me a shelving unit for additional storage area.

It's still a working progress, but it's on the right track now...I just have to be consistent at organizing everything. The hardest task for a crafter! Ask us to make anything and it's possible without hesitation, but ask us to keep it neat and tidy...almost impossible! You want everything organized with it's proper place but at the same time, it has to be on hand and convenient enough to pull all out again when you are crafting. Too tucked away and you will never pull it out to use!

Here's my working progress craftroom...

My desktop...very spacious...

My Silhouette SD...a personal digital cutter...cuts ANYTHING that I can imagine and much more at my finger tips...

My new toy...Sizzix Big Shot...die cutter and embosser...thank you Yuan for the early bday present...hehehe

Accessories to go with my new Big Shot...new texture plates...old texture plates...embossing folders...

New wall mounts to hang craft tools...

Small storage unit with a ribbon dispenser...

Same wall mounts for the side of my cube units...

My cube units mounted on the wall above my desk to store my paper, boxes, Silhouette and much more...

My potlights for additional light...

A large plastic drawer under the table to store more paper, etc...

A small plastic drawer unit beside my table to store various supplies...ribbons, tape, glue, pens, heat gun, glue gun, etc...

My shelving unit...

Fits my huge guillotine paper cutter, magazines, books...

Paper storage area...I love the stacked paper tray I picked up from Daiso a few years ago...

An no crafter is complete without her brand new wireless colour laser all-in-one printer, scanner, fax and copier...

And to keep the colour laser from over working...a new wirless black & white laser printer...

What you don`t see so far is the mess on the floor, the closet and the computer desk...I have yet to figure out where to put things and how to re-organize...hehehe...I`m working on it.

Thank you for taking a tour of my working progress craftroom...

Swansia

My Sizzix Big Shot

For an early birthday present, my godbrother Yuan and godsister Jenny got me a Sizzix Big Shot...well, actually, Yuan reminded me he's missing my birthday again, travelling back to Asia...so I told him that I wanted a Big Shot and he just gave me money to buy it...hehehe

This is my Sizzix Big Shot that Richard picked up for me....Richard topped it up with a few embossing folders so that I could play with the Sizzix Big Shot right away =D

I love it!!!!
Time to accessorize some more!

Congratulations - Farwell - Miss You

It's always hard to say goodbye to a co-worker, but it's easy when they are moving on to a great opportunity. To commemorate the next chapter in her career, I made the following card...

 

This card represents a few sports she loves, snowboarding, surfing and bicycling.

I attached all the pieces by a brad so that the pages can be rotated...it'll make it easy for all my co-workers to access the card pages to sign it.

Christmas in the Summer

Stores this year have been promoting Christmas in July. Strange you might say? Not really.

It takes quite a deal of time to make gifts for people and you can't procrastinate...so the earlier you start, the better it is for you.

A few years ago, 2008, I had decided to knit scarves for a handful of close friends and family.

So off I went to Walmart to pick up a variety of colours of yarn...

This green one was for my niece Michelle. She chose green as her latest favourite colour.

So I put together this cute little green one with it's twists and tassled ends.

This purple one was for one of my best friends, Melanie.

During this time she was leaning towards the colour purple, so a purple butterfly pattered scarf it was for her.

 
 

This simple brown scarf was for one of the guys, who wasn't into any frill. Quite suitable for anyone! One of the easiest to make.

This funky blue scarf has a V-pattern on either ends. It was quite complex for a simple looking design.

Another simple scarf for one of the guys. This one has a checkered textured pattern.



I had a great time making different scarves for different people. I think for that year, I made almost a dozen scarves. Each took me about a half a month to make depending on the complexity of the pattern and design...along with how many mistakes I made along the way because I lost count...lol

Probably in a few more years, I'll come up with something else to make for a select few :) 

Butterflies for the Bride

Jenny, my soon to be godsister-in-law, loves butterflies. Quite suitable, since she's going to be marrying my godbrother Yuan, who we have dubbed bumblebee because of his motorcylce and matching riding gear.

For Jenny's wedding shower I used my Silhouette SD to make her a bunch of butterflies for all the gals to write messages on for her...